I have been an avid fan of woodworking for many years, and have always watched TV shows like This Old House, New Yankee Workshop, The Woodwrights Shop, etc. I definitely fall a little closer in ideology to Norm and the power tool crowd, rather than Roy and the fully manual. Not that I have anything against the use of handtools, I just find that I am much happier with power tools as a general rule.

I have a wonderfully supportive wife, who indulges my hobbies, and has allowed me to accumulate a
fair collection of shop gear over the years, a decent Craftsman contractor table saw, vintage Craftsman Radial Arm saw, Ryobi compound miter saw, drill press, a Porter Cable router/Rockler+DIY router table, and most recently, a Jet dust collector with a Rockler shaker felt filter bag upgrade. [This was a wonderful upgrade, the air quality improved dramatically as soon as I replaced the original 30 micron bag with this ~1 micron one.] Various corded and cordless tools round out the arsenal.

My latest projects have me working with some exotic hardwoods, which has been a real joy, since my budget usually dictates that the lumber used is cheap. I found a local guy who used to cut down trees, and is an avid woodworker himself. He was advertising in the local Craigslist, selling off his vast collection of exotic wood turning/bowl blanks. After a phone call and a quick visit, I come to learn that he also had huge stores of exotics like macadamia, black locust, mahogany, carob, maples, and MANY more. I love visiting Alan, he is very knowledgeable about woods, and he and his wife have been nothing but wonderful to my wife and I. I have come home twice now with decent sized stacks of various hardwoods, which are almost all now earmarked for some holiday gifts I will post in my projects section once finished [and presented]. [Thanks so much, Alan! I hope you like the pics!] Unfortunately, after a
couple of visits, I have cleaned him out...

Shawn and Becky @ Trueline Woodworks [http://www.truelinewoodworks.com] here in town have been extremely helpful in helping me source materials. Take a peek at their website, they do some beautiful work! If you need to contact them, please mention that I sent you! A HUGE thanks to Shawn for the super-generous deal on a 20" thickness planer! I can't wait to get my shop up and running, and plug this new beast in! I really think this might be a game-changer for me....

I am also an avid musician and tattoo collector. I have played in a number of bands since the 80s, and actually had some mild success with my latest metal band, Dying Regret. I also still play bass in a female fronted hard rocking band called Midnight Formula.

Would love to chat with any here about woodworking, music, and/or tats.